So we made it back from London just in time to catch the second half of the BBC’s live announcement of the new Doctor Who casting, settling down before the TV with the Bargain Bucket we’d picked up on the way home. We hadn’t been rushing back, or anything. Twitter was hardly likely to be […]

A shout-out for this one-hour SF comedy, beginning a 6-night run at the West End’s Tristan Bates Theatre this evening at 7.30. Written and directed by Stephen Jordan and featuring Cliff Chapman and Adam Joselyn, it’s presented by Manmoth Productions as part of the Camden Fringe and is a FringeReview Hot Pick. Why the shout? […]

Earlier this year I gave long answers to some very basic questions for a film student’s diploma dissertation. This is the last, and the briefest. Which companies have you worked for? What are they like to work for? Are there differences in styles and techniques? Off the top of my head — the BBC, ITV, […]

Earlier this year I gave long answers to some very basic questions for a film student’s diploma dissertation. How would you go about selling a script or concept? Can you sell a concept? You can sell a concept, and people do it all the time, but it has its hazards. Because, see above – if […]

Earlier this year I gave long answers to some very basic questions for a film student’s diploma dissertation. Is there a difference in writing for UK and US audiences, and if there is, what is it (cost, budget, more/less freedom)? I don’t think the audiences are that different, but I find that the commissioning cultures […]

Earlier this year I gave long answers to some very basic questions for a film student’s diploma dissertation. I had two aims in mind, beyond the obvious one of helping him out. One was that I’d eventually put the material online for general use (so other film students, take from this what you will and […]

At the request of crime specialist and site editor Barry Forshaw, I wrote a piece for the Interviews section of the Crime Time online website. Here’s a taster: There are two kinds of characters that carry novel series. They’re devised or they’re grown, and those are quite different beasts. The devised character is like a […]

I’ve meant to do this ever since I saw a script in which a scene contained the unhelpful direction, “They fight”. And no more. Film fights have a dramatic purpose. Gone are the days when personal violence was offered as the test and proof of a hero’s moral superiority.  Even in Fantasy, that’s a fantasy […]

From Mulholland Books, with a June 20th publication date, comes this reissue of The Saint Goes On with an introduction by yours truly. Mulholland is an imprint of Hodder and Stoughton, publishers of the classic ‘Yellow Jacket’ editions. So in effect, the thirty-five reprint titles are being kept within the family. Their number does not, […]

Here’s my Father’s Day present from the one known as @audreydeuxpink.